Every night I say the same things.

Tasha head on the pillow and eyes closed.

My daughter says the same thing in return.

I can't get to sleep.

Then I say.

You haven't tried. Eyes closed. Sleep. No talk.

Strange sleep ritual, but it works for us.


My darling's brain is racing all the time. She has ADHD and is on medication to help with impulse control. But the medication interferes with sleep. When she is off medication she sleeps about 1 hour more then when she is on medication.


But she has always fought off sleep like it is her enemy. She has more delaying tactics then.... Well I cannot think of a comparison.


I know the Love-and-Logic books recommend you just put the child into the bedroom....... You cannot force a child to sleep and it is a waste of your energy trying.


Well they never met my darling. She is just like the pink Energizer bunny. I cannot post a photo of the real Energizer bunny because of the copyright. So I drew a bunny. No snickering about my art skills. ;)


My daughter does keep on going and going. Given a chance, she will stay up all night long and part of the day before she collapses. And yes I have experimented with my daughter to see what is/was really going on.


All parents experiment on their children... That must be why the second child comes out better. (JOKE... I am the second child in my family.)


And by the way you can force a child to sleep. At sleepovers if everyone isn't asleep by midnight I will go stare at the kids. Seriously... staring works, but it takes some energy.


If that fails, I stand by the bed and hold the telephone. I ask a very simple question... "Do you want to talk to your Mom/Dad?" Most of the time the child decides sleeping is better.


But back to the original point about sleep struggles.......


My daughter struggles greatly with sleep. She knows that she needs (results of the sleep experiments that we did) about 9 hours of sleep. Her rational, thinking brain understands sleep is good. After being home for 5 years now (She was adopted from Ukraine at 3.5 years of age) this is the one major issue that remains with us.


When she first came home, "not sleeping" was about control. If she slept then she lost control. I loved watching her sleep because her face relaxed and her breathing... I would sit in the dark and listen to her breathing. It was so peaceful and I needed peaceful moments with her.


Also "not sleeping" was how she avoided fear. She was horror movie, knife slashing, plane crashing, panic filled, terrified of the dark. The orphanage experience had taught her that expressing emotions didn't do any good. So I didn't know just how scared she was until she had been home about 6 months.


After being home for 6 months she had finally started attaching to me. She had started language therapy. And she could finally express fear. She really intensely expressed her fear. She was vomiting repressed emotions.


I will have to revisit this topic later. I just noticed the time and it is my bedtime.


Hope everyone sleeps well.